Used car importers group suspend dealerships involved in tampered mileage racket

The Used Vehicles Importers Association suspended the two car dealerships in racket involving tampered mileage as revealed by MaltaToday

The Used Vehicles Importers Association (UVIA) suspended the two car dealerships involved in a racket that tampered mileage guages on second-hand Japanese cars.

Albert Fenech, the secretary-general of the UVIA, issued a public statement on Sunday morning stating that the association took steps against the two dealerships on 1 June.

"The UVIA took all the necessary steps permissible in its statute against the two car dealerships involved in the alleged tampering of the mileage gauges, namely that of indefinitely suspending the members in question and of prohibiting the said members from importing and selling such vehicles," Fenech said.

MaltaToday was first to report on the racket, with hundreds of consumers having been sold second-hand Japanese cars with tampered mileage gauges.

Cars bought from Japanese bidding markets on the cheap because of their high mileage, would then be sold in Malta with the dashboard gauge showing low mileage.

An exercise carried out by MaltaToday on a sample of 18 cars flagged by multiple industry sources, shows discrepancies ranging between 30,000km and 130,000km between the original mileage and the one registered in Malta.

The UVIA encouraged all individuals that were affected by the racket to come forward with any information which they might have.

"As UVIA, we commit to work closely with the authorities in order to stop those involved and to take action against the alleged abuse."

READ ALSOHundreds cheated in racket involving tampered mileage on Japanese second-hand car imports